1st August 2021, The Concept 2 Row Erg finally arrived, the assembly was quick and straightforward, time to see if I could still remember how to row.
It turns out I could remember how to row, but that as expected I was horrifically out of shape, had a gut that was in the way and had zero stamina.
My first 2000m test on 02/08/2021 was 9:28.2 at an average of 17 strokes per minute (spm) which equates to 2:22.1 per 500m pace and I almost died doing it, this would place me in the 11th percentile for heavyweight men in the 50-59 age group.
The only occasion I could think of where my rowing had actually gone worse was on a holiday in March 2006 when we went to Las Vegas and I used the rowing machine in the gym, rowed 2000m and then did a 500m ‘sprint’ and almost blacked out afterwards.
I also tried a 500m sprint and managed 2:02 at a stroke rate of 25spm, this would place me in the 20th percentile.
I had another go the following day and achieved 9:03.5 (2:15.9 pace) and while I knocked 25 seconds off the time, I was still practically unable to breathe by the end, and my heart rate was at 165, this brought me into the 17th percentile.
I noticed that there was a challenge on the Concept 2 website for August called ‘Dog Days of Summer‘ which involved rowing 10,000m in week 1, 20,000m in week 2, 30,000m in week 3 and 40,000m in week 4 and thought this would be a good challenge and ease me back into rowing.
I had a break for a day, then on the 5th rowed my first 5000m at 27:01.8, 19spm which placed me in the 4th percentile!
I also tried another 500m and managed 1:50.1 at 32spm which placed me in the 29th percentile
Baby steps would be required if I did not want to end up in an ambulance having collapsed with a heart attack.
I finished off the week with a second 5K at 25:49.1 and 20spm which had moved me up to the 6th percentile.
With week 1 complete and I was still alive, 20k to look forward to which was still possible without needing to go above 5K on any given day and still have a few days rest.
Something else I thought I would try was skipping, I bought a thin wire skipping rope with weighted handles and gave it a try.
My first effort was about 500 jumps in a time of 7:09 which burnt 151 calories, my next attempt a few days later was just over 1000 jumps in a time of 13:11 which burnt 297 calories.
Apart from proving that I was not very good at skipping, the wire rope was also pretty good at whipping me in the arm every time I missed a jump.
3 x 5K, one just short of 1K and another just short of 5K and that was week 2 complete, my best 5K for the week was 23:26.3, 23spm and moved me up to the 17th percentile.
Progress was being seen and a goal was in sight.
Week 3 at 30K, involved my first 10K at 47:34.7 which placed me in the 14th percentile, and 4 x 5K rows, the best of which was 22:01.0 which moved me up to the 31st percentile.
Week 4 at 40K, involved a variety of random distances but included 2 x 10K rows, neither of which improved on my time from the previous week.
So that was over 100,000 metres and my first challenge completed, for which I received a certificate from Concept 2.
During the month of August I managed a total of 63 hours of exercise, walked 349km climbed 226 flights of stairs, cycled 21km and rowed 135km.
By the end of the month my weight was 16 Stone 4lb (228lb/103kg)